Purito Rodríguez is Spanish --it says so on his ID

TV3 committed an unforgivable sin: Joaquim Purito Rodríguez, a member of Spain’s cycling team for the Rio Olympics, was identified using a Catalan flag.

Maiol Roger
2 min
Joaquim Rodríguez, al podi de la Vuelta diumenge a Madrid

BarcelonaAn unforgivable sacrilege was committed by TV3, the Catalan public broadcaster: Joaquim Purito Rodríguez, a member of Spain’s cycling team for the Rio Olympics, was identified by displaying a Catalan flag onscreen next to his name. On Monday El Mundo and La Razón raised a ruckus —coincidentally, after the PP did so -- for the insulting attack on the cyclist from Parets del Vallès (near Barcelona, Catalonia).

El Mundo published an editorial --"TV3 succumbs to surrealism in its nationalistic delirium"-- in which it stated that assimilating Rodríguez to Catalonia is "twisting reality". Parets del Vallès must be in the province of Burgos (Castile) and everyone forgot to tell us.

El Mundo actually showed restraint when compared to La Razón, which put the news on the front page with an article that will not go down in the annals of journalism for its objectivity: "TV3 erases Spain from the Games" was the title, and it went on to explain how the Catalan TV station "paraded Catalanism's feeling of superiority". It would be true if the news had explained that Purito, in spite of coming in fifth, had been given the gold for being Catalan, following Francesc Pujols' logic, whereby a day would come when Catalans would travel the world with everything paid for and medals won (1). But rather, it simply identified a Catalan cyclist with a Catalan flag. The only thing missing was the: "What's on his ID?” (2)

Paqui's Medal

TV3’s attacks didn't end there. The Catalan network displayed the correct flag for Catalan swimming champion Mireia Belmonte (the Spanish one, “the one that unites us all”) but talked of a "Catalan medal". This was an error that La Razón took upon themselves to fix by explaining who actually got the bronze. "The last push was by Paqui", was the headline announcing an interview with Paqui, the swimmer's mother: "We picked up the medal, and it was very heavy". TV3 should take note: for Belmonte's next success, don't bother identifying her with a flag: nobody will complain if they show a photo of Paqui.

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(1) N.T. Francesc Pujols was an eccentric Catalan writer and philosopher.

(2) N.T. To “prove” that Catalans are truly Spanish, some unionists occasionally resort to pointing out that Catalans have a Spanish ID.

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